Bethesda’s Skyrim was second best-selling game in 2011, MW3 was first

The fact that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pulled in more money than any other video game in 2011 is not a surprise. Anyone could have seen that coming. But the title that managed to score second place is rightfully turning some heads. The latest entry in Bethesda's epic Elder Scroll franchise, Skrim, outsold all the others in the race to become the top non-Call of Duty title of the year. This comes despite a backlash after some PS3 users found game-crippling lag problems when playing through the open world adventure.

The problem, which existed on PS3 only, was attributed to a glitch in the way save files were created and caused them to grow into uncontrollable sizes that prevented the game from running properly. The issue has recently been fixed with a patch, and now Bethesda is clinging to brighter news. Even games like Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, or the new Uncharted game were not as successful as Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls series has long been regarded as one of the most masterful and brilliantly designed game franchises in the current generation, but its reach had previously been very niche in scope. Apparently that has changed. Within its first month, more than 10 million copies of the game had been shipped, spanning the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. On the PC, it became digital distribution platform Steam's fastes-selling game ever.